If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

The Waffling Politician

Friday night, I promised my two young sons that when we woke up, while their mom was on a road trip, I'd cook breakfast. Both, but particularly my youger one, a kindergartner, said they wanted omelettes.

This was great, because I also wanted an omelette. We would have a great breakfast with cool stuff in our omelettes.

The next morning, my kindergartner announced that he wanted a waffle. I asked him, "Don't you want an omelette?"

He responded that he did not want an omelette. He wanted a waffle. So when I asked him if he had changed his mind, and reminded him that he'd said omelette the night before, he agreed. He'd changed his mind.

It then struck me.

One time a politician said he wanted an omelette. But when it came time to placing the order, he asked for a waffle instead.

This is the likely origin of someone changing their mind when it comes down to time to commit. This is why someone changing their mind at commitment time is referred to as "waffling".

Well at least that's the theory Sammy and I came up with yesterday.

Chris

"Determining and applying the criteria for when and when not to use correction is the essence of the art of dog training. I make a distinction between a mistake and a lack of effort." - Mike Lardy - Volume I "After Collar Conditioning"

The term waffle, particularly outside the U.S., denotes language without meaning; blathering, babbling, droning. One might waffle throughout an essay or a presentation, when not having enough material, or needing to fill in time. Etymologists say the term was derived from waff[1], a 17th-century onomatopoeia for the sound a barking dog makes, similar to the modern woof. Although the relationship between a dog's bark and indecisiveness is unclear, the inference is that waffle words have about as much meaning as the noise made by a dog barking.
Waffling can also be used as a derogatory term; to describe, for instance, a candidate or politician who is considered to easily switch sides on issues to curry political favor (ie. "flip-flop"), as an easily-flipped breakfast food with the same name. A waffle was famously used to represent PresidentBill Clinton in the Doonesburycomic strip.[2]
The term "to waffle" denotes indecision about particular subjects; "waffling" can also mean changing one's mind frequently on a topic. Example: "Jimmy always waffles between wanting to go to school, or not. Jimmy, you must make up your mind".

and, hard to pour Pure Vermont Maple Syrup on an egg

.

"So what is big is not always the Trout nor the Deer but the chance, the being there. And what is full is not necessarily the creel nor the freezer, but the memory." ~ Aldo Leopold

"The Greatest Obstacle to Discovery is not Ignorance -- It is the Illusion of Knowledge" ~ Daniel Boorstin

Ken! that dictionary entry is just wrong, how can anyone believe a straightforward animal like a dog barks for no reason or that its bark is waffling? Surely you understand all the different Chesapeake barks? Such as: where's dinner? Who is that at the door? Hey, there's a strange animal outside! Or, come any closer to this truck and I'll have to hurt you along with of course, the infamous CBR roooooo that can mean different things. Guess I'm waffling on whether I like those definitions....